Many services, particularly network services such as those provided by websites, regularly deal with huge numbers of cases or incidents, which need to be resolved efficiently, accurately, and quickly. Efficiency is especially important for cases consuming costly resources, such as time spent by scarce expert analysts; and especially during surges in the number of cases. Accuracy is especially important in cases where an inappropriate resolution has fatal or costly consequences; and for decisions having irreversible effects. Quickness is especially important for emergency cases, and for types of cases involving real-time processing or resolution.
Case-management systems have cases pass through several phases of evaluation at different stages in a process leading to resolution. Depending on the case-management system, the current workload, the available personnel, and the individual case, the various phases of the process may be handled by anywhere from a single agent end to end, to a different agent for each phase.
Conventional case-management systems commonly address efficient use of expert time by presenting cases first to agents with low expertise who can process simple and common cases on their own, and can iteratively escalate complicated and rare cases to be reprocessed by agents with ever greater expertise. Efficient use of agents during surges is commonly addressed by adjusting the agent pool according to demand, such as by hiring part-time agents during surges, or by reassigning agents to other tasks during lulls.
Accuracy is commonly addressed by feedback from later stages within and beyond the case workflow; and by having cases cross-checked by peers or spot-checked by experts, especially for more-critical cases.
Quick processing is commonly addressed for urgent cases by early escalation, and for real-time case types by dedicated specialized workflows.